


Said the Spider to the Fly

by foundCarcosa



Category: Fable (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-11
Updated: 2012-06-11
Packaged: 2017-11-07 12:26:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/431178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foundCarcosa/pseuds/foundCarcosa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A tiny drabble about what happens after an eight-year-old boy is shot out of a window on a balmy night in Bowerstone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Said the Spider to the Fly

The unmistakable sound of glass shattering breaks Garth out of his reverie; the screams and shouts and pointing steals his attention for good. Turning, he squints up at the hulking castle, but can’t see anything out of the ordinary.

But because something inside him had tightened in warning, he abandons his stroll and heads back whence he came, his steps quicker than before.

“No, no, Master Garth, I _must_ insist—” The butler tries, but he has no real authority in this case.

“I live here, too. Let me pass.” The mage sidesteps him, squares his shoulders, and the elderly man is left stammering and gesturing behind him. Garth plants his hands on the doors to Lucien’s study and shoves; they were locked, but he ignored locks the same way he ignored most other petty annoyances.

His momentum falters as his gaze sweeps over the scene — blood on the circle, crumpled body, shattered window. Lucien wheels around, and before he recovers, Garth catches the look of abject remorse on his fine-featured visage.

He recalls the children that had trotted past him as he left the castle, the younger one staring up at him with wide blue eyes, lips forming the word ‘wow’. Garth had cast him a look of mild annoyance, preoccupied as he was… but why had he done that, why.

“What did you do…”

“Garth, _Garth,_ you don’t understand, they would have sabotaged everythi—”

_“What did you do!”_

Lucien quails, the incensed glow in the mage’s eyes and the lightning in his voice giving Lucien pause. “I had to kill them, Garth. I _had_ to!”

“Lucien…” Garth finds his hands are quivering, and his voice is soon to follow; he speaks the man’s name as a warning. He crosses the room, deliberate steps are loud in the thick silence. Lucien is watching him guardedly, but Garth doesn’t care about Lucien right now.  
Remnants of power still vibrate in the circle, surrounding the sprawled, still female body — something revelatory had occurred here. And perhaps if Garth had been here, he’d have been able to sort it out, talk Lucien down from his typical fits of anxiety and impulsiveness, save the boy with the wide, too-intelligent eyes.

“It will all make sense when the Spire is built,” and Garth sneers reflexively at the soft, reasonable voice speaking statements of no reason. “I promise—”

“I don’t associate with senseless murderers.”

Garth can almost feel Lucien blanching. “Excuse me?”

“I did not stammer, Lucien.”

“You… you have nerve now, do you? What are you going to do? You can’t _leave,_ you know far too much.”

Garth turns to face him again, silently. His gaze dares Lucien to continue. But Garth overestimates himself, and underestimates the thrall of madness. Lucien continues, weaves words of warning and dissuading around Garth’s conflicted mind and pulls the web _tight_ with his encircling arms and pleas for understanding. _I’m hurting, you see? You’re right, this isn’t me. This isn’t me, and I need you to help me._

And because he couldn’t help the boy with the too-intelligent eyes but he thought he could help the man with the too-dead eyes, and because he too often gave his love without condition, Garth stayed.


End file.
